Lindbergh roars past Oakville in second half to win Southside Classic girls title

The ball goes to a designated player as the Flyers’ player of the game after each Lindbergh victory.

Abercrombie finished with nine points including four free throws in the final 24 seconds, helping Lindbergh earn a hard-fought 42-39 victory over the Oakville Tigers on Friday night in the championship game of the Southside Classic at Hancock High’s Tiger Dome.

The Flyers improved to 4-1.

“This is very exciting,” Abercrombie said. “Getting the game ball is important. I was thinking about it a little bit. But really, coming up clutch there at the end of the game was more important.”

The player who won the game ball in the previous game chooses the recipient from the next game. Each player signs their name and number on the ball.

In this game, senior Kate Ritter, who finished with eight points, chose Abercrombie and handed the game ball to her.

Flyers leading scorer

Senior Sam Colvin led Lindbergh with 16 points.

“I felt like I played well,” Colvin said. “It feels great to win this game. I think this tournament championship says a lot about us. We all like playing together. It’s really looking up from here I think.”

Lindbergh coach Michelle Pittroff agreed.

“It’s always nice to win,” Pittroff said. “We got off on the right foot. It was a battle tonight and we grinded it out. I’m glad we had MJ going there to the line at the end of the game.”

Freshman phenom

Oakville’s Savannah Bentrup led all scorers with 27 points.

“The best player on the floor,” Oakville coach Laura Bishop said. “She can do it all. She knows the game of basketball really well.”

She was humble about her scoring.

“Every now and then I like to throw in a few,” Bentrup said with a smile. “We played a good game against a tough team. We worked really hard and it was fun to play. We have a great team here and I like working with them.”

Bentrup said she enjoyed playing against Colvin.

“She’s a really good player and she tested my skills,” Bentrup said. “She’s great I think.”

Finishing second in the tournament didn’t bother Bentrup too much.

“You win some, you lose some,” Bentrup said. “We’ve got a lot of the season left to play.”

Coach on Tigers

Oakville suffered its first loss, falling to 2-1.

“Youth hurts sometimes,” Bishop said. “We struggled at time. Our normal starting point guard wasn’t here because she was out of town at a soccer tournament so we put a lot of pressure on our freshman point guard (Katherine Steiniger). She took over and did pretty well.

“We’re getting better every game. This is a brand new group.”

Slow start

The Flyers missed their missed their first 10 shots before hitting a field goal at the 2:41 mark of the first quarter.

Lindbergh committed 10 turnovers to just five for the Tigers in the opening period.

“We had too many mental mistakes there,” Pittroff said.

Oakville led 10-9 after the first eight minutes.

Flyers pull close before halftime

Oakville enjoyed its biggest lead at 17-10 with 2:39 left in the first half.

The Flyers closed the gap to 17-15 and had a chance to tie with 1 second left by Lindbergh missed two free throw opportunities.

“We got in some trouble there but we went on a nice run there to get back in the game,” Pittroff said. “We chipped away and got ourselves back in the game by halftime.”

Third quarter

Lindbergh closed the first half by scoring the final five points. The Flyers scored the first two buckets in the third quarter to take the lead at 19-17.

Oakville tied it and then took the lead on a basket by Bentrup. A 3-pointer by Flyers sophomore Piper Wilmot made it 22-21 followed by a field goal by Colvin.

Bentrup made a big-time play when she stole the ball and drove the court. She hit the layup and was fouled. The free throw put the Tigers up 25-24.

Lindbergh scored the final two baskets to take a 28-25 lead into halftime.

Run continues

The Flyers scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to make it a 10-0 on run a bucket by Colin and two field goals from freshman Josephine Mullins.

The Tigers got as close a 38-36 with 44 seconds remaining.

Abercrombie then hit four of six free-throw attempts to seal the game for the Flyers.

“I love being in that situation,” Abercrombie said. “I like having the ball in my hands at the end of the game. I feel very comfortable.

“This was a good win for us. We have a lot of talent on this team and I think we’re going to continue to get better.”

Previous tournament games

Oakville: Defeated Windsor 54-40 in the opener and DuBourg 55-14 in the semifinal.

Lindbergh: Topped Affton 83-20 in the opener and Fox 56-17 in the semifinals. The Flyers began this season with a 62-31 home loss to Marquette.

Tournament history

The girls tournament began in 1994. Lindbergh won the championship last year. The Flyers have won five of the last eight tournaments.

Series history

Since 1999, Oakville leads the series 28-20. The Tigers defeated Lindbergh 45-35 in the last meeting, which was March 1 in a Class 6 District 1 semifinal.